The Rock Star Next Door #1 Read Online Free PDF

could see that Metal and Crash had a one-way ticket to rehab. The label couldn’t do much if they broke up.
    But Jewel was here.
    She allowed the contact, and slowly, carefully, shifted her fingers so they grasped each other. He regretted not kissing her last night. He ached with the need to do it. But the table was between them. And Crash and Metal were just a few feet away. Arnie was up front with the driver and could come back any minute.
    Maybe, must maybe, once they got to LA and through the interviews and press, he could get her alone. Then he would do it. He wouldn’t chicken out. This was his moment. And she was the girl he had always wanted.

7. Jewel: Mixed Feelings

    Jewel sat in a corner of the room, watching Rage work the crowd. He glanced at her every so often, just to make sure she was still there. It warmed her over. How could it not? Nobody else paid any attention to her. With her ordinary clothes and lack of makeup, she wasn’t web site clickbait or the right look to sell to tabloids. She was invisible.
    But Rage, he was a force. That slutty photographer was back with yet another halter. Jewel wondered how many rock stars that girl had boned. Was it some sort of challenge to her? See how many she could cross off the list? Jewel definitely didn’t get it. Maybe she could understand going after that one rock god you had always pined for. But this girl seemed to have a system.
    Every time Rage noticed the photographer, his eyes flashed with anger. It made Jewel want to laugh. He wasn’t going to be a very good rock star if he didn’t like women throwing themselves at him.
    Arnie plunked down next to her. “He’s good with the press, that’s for sure.” He angled his head at Metal and Crash, who glowered with brooding expressions behind Rage. “Those boys, they ain’t gonna last if they don’t lay off the powder and work.”
    Jewel decided this was a good a time as any to confront him about money. “So where do they get the drugs then? They have money? A dealer? What if they get caught?”
    Arnie sniffed. “There’s always roadies and crew willing to do whatever to sidle up to the band.”
    “So fire them.”
    He crossed his arms over his beefy chest. “More like them will just show up. The industry is full of it.”
    Jewel sighed in disgust. She didn’t see why it had to be that way. No wonder these poor kids, going from seedy bars to sold-out arenas, crashed and burned. They were being set up for it.
    “Damn, is that the girl from last night?” Arnie seemed to just now notice the lurid-lipped photographer. “Rage specifically said to keep her out.” He hopped up to confront the woman.
    Well, he was good for something. Jewel turned back to Rage. They seemed to be wrapping things up. Arnie was pulling the photographer out of the room by her arm. Rage noticed and smiled, then winked at Jewel.
    Okay, she had to admit it, she was having fun. Better than sitting around her flat in London, doing a whole lot of nothing with Ethan and trying to figure out a job. She couldn’t stay much longer there, now that her degree was done, unless she got a job. Maybe it was time to punt and come back to the US. Her parents would be happy. And how different it would be to see her old house, and Rage’s, next to each other on that middle class street, after this.
    The hotel this time was much fancier than the last. She did some numbers in her head. If it were $300 a night, and with the crew and the band and the buses, hell, they had some serious expenses. If the contract was bad, even with sold-out shows in these medium-sized arenas, they were going to go in a hole.
    Jewel sat and fretted about this, staring at the floor, wondering what she could do to help him, when she saw his black boots step in front of her.
    She looked up, and once again, was struck by the transformation. The stylists had prepped him for this interview. His hair was a work of art, almost floating over head head. The stubble was a